First Place
by Justis76
Summary: As Phoenix and Maya take part in a competition being run by Edgeworth, Nick tries to find an opportunity to tell Maya how he feels. Phoenix/Maya. Chapter 4 added.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So here's the latest from yours truly. This one's a bit different from what I usually write (more characters/ chapters than usual), so hopefully it's not too horrible. Anyways, this one's going to be 4 chapters, and... here's the first part. Enjoy!**

"Niiiick! Slow down! How do you have that much energy?" Maya whines from behind me, stumbling as she tries to catch up.

"Gee Maya, I don't know. Maybe if you laid off the burgers so much, you'd be able to keep up." I tease, grinning. Maya sticks out her tongue at me.

"Why does Mr. Edgeworth's house have to be so far away from all the bus stops, anyways? You know Nick, you should really get a car." Maya complains between gasps. I can't blame her, we've been walking for what feels like an hour, and it's scorching hot out today, too.

"I'm starting to think that Edgeworth's house is far away from everything. When was the last time we saw another house? He probably couldn't stand the thought of having neighbours, so he got a house in the most secluded spot he could find." I remark. "Anyways, that's it just up ahead. He better have had a good reason for calling us out here in this heat."

"You gotta admit though, Nick. It's kind of exciting, isn't it?" Maya exclaimed. "When was the last time Mr. Edgeworth called us out of the blue? And he wouldn't tell us what was going on, either! It's like it's some sort of secret! Could it be some sort of surprise party? Nick, is it your birthday?"

"No, Maya, my birthday isn't for months." I sigh, slightly exasperated. We come to a halt in front of the door. Leave it to Edgeworth to have one of the nicest houses in town. How much is he making as a prosecutor, anyways? I haven't even seen the inside yet, but just from looking at the huge exterior of Edgeworth's manor, I can tell they're paying him too much. It makes my already rather ugly apartment look like a dump. I ignore the stings of jealousy and turn to look over at Maya.

She looks back at me. "What is it, Nick?"

"Uh..."

_Come on, do it now! Tell her how you feel!_

I'd been grappling with the idea for weeks now. Do I tell her, or don't I? At first I tried to tell myself I shouldn't. She's Mia's little sister, and she's so much younger than me, and she's supposed to be my assistant, there was no way I could hope that she would feel the same way I feel about her. But eventually I came to the realization that Maya matters too much to me, and there's no way I could settle down and be just friends with her without at least giving it a shot.

I came to that epiphany a few days ago, and since then I've decided that I have to tell her how I feel.

At first I thought it would be simple. I would just walk up and grab her by the waist, kiss her, and whisper "Maya, I love you". But pretty soon I realized it wasn't going to be that easy. Every time I tried to tell her something, she was always too busy going on about the Steel Samurai, or burgers, or... anything, really. I need Maya's undivided attention, but every time I try to confess to her there's always something else on her mind, or somebody in the way, or the timing was just all wrong. Three days have passed, and I'm not any closer to telling her than I was before...

Maya snaps me out of my thoughts. "Nick, come on! We've got to get going, so make it quick!"

I sigh. _Bad timing strikes again. _"Never mind, I'll tell you after. Let's go see what Edgeworth is up to." I ring the doorbell and a few moments later Edgeworth appears at the door.

"Wright", he says, his usual sullen voice present. "You're late."

"Well sorry! It's not our fault that your house is so far from the bus stop!" I retort.

A smirk appears on Edgeworth's face. "You might consider finding a new method of transportation, then. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Come inside, the guests who had the _decency_ to show up on time have been waiting for quite a while."

Irritated but also desperate to get out of the sun, I follow Edgeworth inside, Maya trailing behind me. Inside we're greeted by Gumshoe, Franziska, a girl who I presume is the assistant Edgeworth has told me about(May, I think her name was?) and... Larry? What exactly is Edgeworth up to?

"Uh, Edgeworth, what's going on here?" I ask hesitantly.

"Now, now right. Remember your manners. I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting my, er, assistant in person, have you?" Edgeworth chastises me, pointing in the direction of his employee.

"Phoenix Wright," I say, outstretching an arm. She shakes it, respond with "Kay Faraday".

Maya greets Edgeworth's assistant with her usual enthusiasm, waving a hand and saying "Hi, I'm Maya!"

Edgeworth clears his throat. "Now then, since you're all here, I'll get to the matter at hand. As you all may know, my new car is being imported soon..."

Ugh. Of course we all know. It's all Edgeworth has been going on about for weeks. 'Oh, it's so much sleeker than the one I have now. Much more fuel efficient, too!' I swear, if he brought us down here just to gloat...

"... And as a result, I have no use for my current one. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I have decided to give it to one of you." Edgeworth concludes.

Just like he was most likely expecting, all of the guests burst out with shouts of "WHAT!" at Edgeworth's announcement.

"Wait, hold on. You're just going to give one of us your car? Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but why don't you just sell it?" I ask, incredulous.

"Wright, I don't imagine that you make an awful lot of money with the business you're running, but I ensure you that I can sustain my lifestyle quite well without the small amount of money I would receive from selling the car. Besides, this way is going to be much more entertaining for me." Edgeworth smirks.

"Sorry, 'this way'? What way? What are you talking abou-"

Edgeworth clears his throat again. "If you'd let me finish, Wright. My assistant Kay has proposed an idea to decide who shall receive the car. You will all endure a series of challenging courses to decide who is best-suited to receive the car. Those who perform the poorest in any of the tasks will be eliminated, and in the end only the winner shall remain. He or she who successfully accomplishes all of the tasks will be rewarded with the car. Now then, is there anybody that does not want the car?"

I glance around the room. Nobody says anything.

"Excellent!" Edgeworth grins. "I look forward to seeing you all horribly humiliate yourselves. The first task begins tomorrow, I expect to see you all at Gatewater Land at 12 PM sharp. _Don't_ be late again, Wright."

"Oh my gosh, Nick! This is perfect! You need that car!" Maya squeals as we leave Edgeworth's house and start the long journey back to the bus stop.

"Uh, why? I don't even have a driver's license, Maya." I remind her.

"I know, but you can always just get one! You need it, OK? That way you can... You can take me out for burgers! Whenever I want!" Maya grins, although there's something a bit off about the way she's smiling.

"Don't I do that anyways?" I sigh.

"Well yeah, but now we can do it much faster! Hey, what did you want to talk to me about, anyways?" She asks.

"Well... I... I wanted to tell you that-"

"PHOENIX WRIGHT!" I hear a loud demanding voice and the far-too-familiar sound of a whip cracking, then suddenly I'm on the ground with my head throbbing.

"Wh-What was that for?" I shout to the blue-haired demon standing over top of me.

"No reason," Franziska replies casually, curling her whip around her hand, "I just wanted to get your attention."

I struggle up to my feet, rubbing my head. "Why are you even in this competition? Can't you just buy a car?"

Apparently I asked the wrong question, because in a flash Franziska's whipping me again. At this point Maya's decided to hide behind a nearby tree. So much for telling her how I feel now.

"Foolishly foolish fool! Of course I can buy my own car! I only entered this foolish competition because I want to see you and that scruffy detective squirm." Franziska grinned. "Prepare to be crushed tomorrow, Phoenix Wright."

_That girl has some serious problems. _I think to myself as I hear her heels click away, leaving me in peace.

"Nick! Are you alright?" Maya's voice calls out to me. I pull myself up off the ground again.

"I... I think I have a concussion." I answer, being only slightly melodramatic.

"Oh come on, Nick! That's quitter talk! You'll be fine, I know it! You're Phoenix Wright, after all." Maya rushes over and hugs me in an attempt to make me feel better. It works; just having Maya so close to me is making the pain start to fade.

"Thanks, Maya." I croak.

She pulls away, grinning. "Now come on, we've got to get home and start training!"

"Training? For what?" I ask as she drags me along.

"The competition, silly! If we want to get back at Franziska, we're going to have to kick her butt tomorrow!" Maya declares with a fire burning in her eyes, which as it so happens is the look she gets whenever she's thinking something crazy.

_Oh no. What have I gotten myself into now?_


	2. Chapter 2

The Next Day

Gatewater Land

11:59 AM

"Eeeeek! I can't wait!" Kay squeals as we wait for Edgeworth to arrive.

"Boy, you really want the car, don't you?" Maya asks, somehow still filled with energy despite staying up all night in anticipation of today's contest.

"Yup! I got my driver's license last week, so now I just need a car and I can show off to my friends!" explains Kay, with excitement that can probably match Maya's.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but you're going down! Nick and I were doing intense training all night to sharpen our minds and maximize our driving skills." Maya brags.

"Woah," gasps Kay in amazement. "You guys are hardcore."

"Not really," I sigh, "Maya's idea of 'intense training' is just playing Steel Samurai Kart Racing all night."

"Niiick! Don't tell our secret to the enemy! No offense, Kay."

"None taken."

"Excellent, you're all here," Edgeworth says as he pulls up and gets out of his brand new car. Very flashy and expensive-looking, just like everything else Edgeworth owns. Typical. "Which means we can get to the first challenge right away. Now obviously, I could not in good conscience give my car away to a horrible driver, and so today I must test your ability to drive. You will all participate in a round of Go-Karts. Finish 5 laps and then return to the starting area, the last one to finish will be eliminated."

"And you thought all those hours of training would be for nothing." Maya accused me, smiling smugly.

As we're all putting our helmets on, I decide to ask Larry a question.

"Hey Larry, why are you even doing this? Don't you already have a car?" I ask quizzically.

"Well yeah, but it's not as nice as Edgey's." Larry replies matter-of-factly.

"So what? It still looks nice and it works fine, so why would you need another car?" I argue, but I'm worried I already know where this is going.

"Nick! Isn't it obvious?" He asks.

Oh, boy. Here we go. Please don't tell me it's about...

"Girls, Nick. Girls love nice cars." Larry explains, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I sigh. _That's what I thought you'd say._

"Seriously! With a car like that, there isn't a single chick in the world who'd say no to a date with me! Just look! Hey, Maya!" Larry calls out. "If I got Edgey's car, you'd date me, right?"

"Uh, nope. Sorry." Maya answers distractedly, fidgeting with her helmet. My heart leaps, even though I wasn't really expecting different.

"Huh? But it's so nice! Ohhh, I get it. Nick, you finally manned up and asked her out, huh? You sly dog!" Larry shouts, pointing his finger at me. Everybody turns to look at me.

"Wh-what? No, I didn't, I mean I, no I...Uh..." _Thanks for putting me on the spot there, "buddy"._

"We're just friends!" Maya interjects quickly, saving me from further embarrassment.

"Seriously? Then why not? I bet you'd go out with Nick, if he had the car, wouldn't you?" Larry accuses. He's never really been one to take rejection well.

"Well... Uh..." Maya mumbles. The sun's a bit too bright for me to be sure, but I could swear that I see Maya's cheeks redden. _Well? Would you?_

"Alright people, let's get a move on! Save the embarrassing yourselves for when you're on the track!" Edgeworth exclaims, hurrying us all along.

_Foiled again..._ I restrain the powerful urge to punch Edgeworth in the face as I pass him. I swear that if I end up getting that car, I am going to do horrible things to it, just to see his reaction.

Larry, Gumshoe, Kay and Franziska pile into their go-karts. Since Maya and I are working together, we take a kart with two seats. I'm about to step into the driver's seat when Maya sticks out her hand to stop me.

"Woah, woah, slow down! What do you think you're doing?" she demands.

"Um... Getting in?" I reply, not really sure what the problem is.

"Not on that side, you're not! I'm driving!" Maya protests.

"What? I've driven plenty of these! The closest you've ever come to driving is playing that stupid kart racing game!" I complain.

"It's not stupid! Besides, I kick your butt at it!"

"That's only because I'm horrible at it!"

"Exactly! You're the worst I've ever seen! No way I'm letting you drive."

"Fine, drive. I don't care." I sit down in the passenger seat grumpily and cross my arms. "How is it that despite being a lawyer, I always seem to lose our arguments?"

"It's probably because you don't want to argue with such a pretty girl." Maya jokes.

"You can say that again." I mutter.

"Huh?" _Oh god I said that out loud, didn't I._

"I think we're starting soon, pay attention!" I cry out. _Very smooth. _

"On your marks..." Edgeworth begins, "Get set... Go!"

The go-karts screech to life. In a flash, Maya's flooring the gas pedal and sailing past everybody. I didn't even know a go-kart could move this fast.

"Told you I should drive!" shouts Maya, her voice being somewhat obscured by the wind rushes past us.

"Slow down!" I yell. "We're gonna crash!"

"No we're not! I'm a professional go-kart racer!" She tries to assure me.

"IN A VIDEO GAME!" I scream.

"Same difference!" She shrugs.

Despite being in total fear for my life, I have to admit that Maya might have a point. Despite us going faster than humanly possible, Maya still seems to be in control of the kart and manages to get around all of the turns easily. I look behind us to see the competition. Gumshoe's a bit behind us, but despite not being in first he seems to be enjoying himself. Right on Gumshoe's tail is Kay, who seems to be a bit more frustrated. They seem to have some sort of friendly rivalry going on. Way behind them is Larry, who keeps steering off of the track and crashing into things, which isn't really that much of a surprise. After all, it took him 6 tries to finally pass his driving test. Surprisingly, in dead last is Franziska, who actually seems to be **whipping her go kart for not going fast enough**. Go figure. It looks like she's crashing more than Larry is, too.

"Hey Nick, watch this." Maya says to me as we get close to Franziska again, with her still struggling through the first lap while we're on our second. Maya slows down so that we're right beside Franziska's kart, and then she makes a sharp turn, bumping Franziska off course. Her cart turns in the wrong direction and she drives completely off the track, causing her to drive even slower than she already is. Franziska starts screaming something that was probably about us being fools, but we've already driven too far away to hear her.

I burst out into laughter. "What was that? She's going to kill us for that, you know!"

"She's going to have to catch us first!" Maya grins. "Besides, it's payback for her beating you up yesterday."

I grin back. "Maya, you're really something else, you know that?"

"Aww, thanks Nick." This time I'm positive she's blushing.

Without any further distractions (except Franziska trying to whip me once when we drove past her, fortunately she missed) Maya and I are the first ones to finish our first laps. As we slow down at the starting area, Maya leaps out and hugs me.

"First place, Nick! That car's as good as ours!" She cheers.

"U-Um...Yeah." I agree, feeling a bit flustered by the unexpected (yet very much appreciated) intimacy. _Pull yourself together, Nick!_

"Excellent work, you two." Edgeworth congratulates us. "I must admit that I found that push you gave Franziska's kart to be rather amusing, even though it may have been bending the rules a bit. I suppose I'll let you off the hook this time."

"Hear that Nick? Even Mr. Edgeworth is OK with it! Which means we'll be fine, Franziska's got no reason to try and harm us!" Maya exclaims.

"That's never stopped her before." I moan.

We wait for the other contestants to come in. Kay is the next to arrive, and she seems to feel some sense of accomplishment for being able to pass Gumshoe in the middle of the race. Gumshoe follows after her, claiming that he let her win, and that he's going to beat her for sure next time. Larry follows a while after, for some reason seeming very pleased with his driving despite spending most of the race crashing into things.

Edgeworth is doing a very bad job at masking his laughter by the time Franziska reaches the finish line.

"Well, Franziska. I have to say I'm... pfft... surprised at your performance." He says, trying to mask his chuckles by coughing.

Franziska is not amused. "Driving is for foolishly foolish fools, just like this foolishly foolish game! I don't even need to drive, I have a chauffeur! This was a waste of my time!" She declares through gritted teeth.

"Well, since you were the last one to arrive, I'm afraid you're disqualified from the competition, so you won't have to deal with any more of these 'foolishly foolish games'." Edgeworth replies, his laughter having died out but still bearing a smirk on his face.

"What? My driving may have had a few.. flaws, but I was nowhere as reckless as those two!" Franziska points an accusatory finger at Maya and I. "Their driving was an atrocity! They even ran me off of the road!"

"Now now, Franziska. I won't hear excuses. The rules were that if you came in last, you would be eliminated, and I wouldn't be a very good prosecutor if I just ignored the rules whenever I pleased, now would I?"

Maya giggles at this and I try to mask a snicker. Franziska goes ballistic.

"Rrrrrggghhh! It doesn't matter, this competition is for fools, anyway!" And with that, she turned on me and went on a total whipping frenzy, catching me completely off guard. I crumple to the ground, surrounded in pain.

"What was that for? Nick wasn't even driving the go-kart!" Maya shouts at Franziska.

"Hmmph!" Franziska grunts, and then walks away.

"Nick, are you OK?" Maya asks, crouching down to check on me.

I try to say "No", but it comes out more like "Nghhhhhhp".

The last thing I hear before I lose consciousness is "Well, excellent job, the rest of you. I'll contact you later this evening with details about the second task."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews so far, you guys are awesome.**

**...**

"Nick.. Nick...NICK! Get up! You've been sleeping for hours!" Maya yells, waking me up.

"Huh, what's going on?" I question, getting up off of the couch at Wright & Co Law Offices.

"Mr. Edgeworth just called. He said that the second round of the competition is gonna happen tomorrow at his house, 12 PM again." Maya explains.

"I don't want to do it. I'm pretty sure I almost died a couple times while we were out go-karting today." I whine.

"Oh, come on Nick," begs Maya, "you don't have to worry about that anymore. Franziska's out of the competition, so you don't even have to be scared of her beating you up!"

Ignoring the fact that I was more referring to Maya's reckless driving, I retort "I'm not _scared_ of Franziska."

Maya gasps. "Oh my god! Franziska? How did you get in here? What are you doing with that whip!"

Out of pure instinct, I leap behind the couch and go into fetal position. It takes a second for me to realize Maya's kidding. "Ha ha, very funny." I groan, standing up.

"Yeah, I thought so!" Maya says, clearly proud of herself. "But seriously Nick, you can't give up now! We're doing so well! We kicked everybody's butt today, and you know it."

"Alright, alright," I admit, giving in. "I'll stay in the competition. I don't see why you want that car so badly, though. It's really not that much of a hassle to get burgers anyways, there are burger places so close that we can just walk to them."

"Well it's not just that..." Maya begins, turning away.

"So what is it, then?" I ask, curious.

"Oh, it's nothing... Hey, on the topic of burgers, we should go get some! I'm starving. Besides, we've got to celebrate our victory, you know." Maya declares.

I laugh. "Alright, alright. Let's go."

...

"So what do you think about Kay?" Maya asks as she ravages her burger.

"Um... I don't know. She seems pretty nice." I reply.

"Nick, get serious here! She's the enemy, remember?" Maya says, wearing a look of deadly seriousness. "What do you think about her skills?"

"Uh, I guess she's good at driving? She came in second place, after all." I shrug. Maya always gets so competitive, but I've never really been the kind of guy who cares about contests that much. Outside of court, at least.

Maya nods in agreement. "She worries me. We know about Larry and Gumshoe's weaknesses, but she's a wild card. She might catch us by surprise if we're not careful. We have to take her out as soon as possible!"

"Uh, Maya, don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?" I ask cautiously.

"No, Nick! You're not taking this seriously enough!" Maya exclaims, slamming her hands down on the table in what I can only guess is a (pretty unimpressive) imitation of me.

"Right... Anyways, speaking of the competition, thanks for trying to stand up to Franziska earlier. I think she might have hospitalized me if you didn't do anything." I smile sheepishly.

"Oh, it was nothing Nick. You would have done the same thing for me, right?" Maya asks.

"Of course. I'd do anything for you, Maya." I answer sincerely.

Maya blushes. "Thanks Nick, that means a lot to me. You're the best."

I grin at her, and she grins back. I try to psych myself up to tell her. _Come on, just let her know how you feel! This is the perfect time! _But before I can say anything, Maya interrupts my thinking.

"So Mr. Wright," Maya says, once again doing a pretty awful imitation of me, "You claim you'll do anything for me, correct?"

"Yeah, absolutely." I answer, trying to sound even more serious than before.

"Well in that case..." Maya demands, "Buy me another burger."

_...Should have seen that coming._

"I'd like to amend my statement," I laugh. "I'll do anything for you that doesn't involve bankrupting the firm."

"What? Oh come on! There's no way that buying one more burger would make us broke!" Maya protests.

"Then clearly you have no idea how much I've spent buying you burgers this month." I tease.

...

[The next day

12:00 PM

Edgeworth's House]

"Alright, we're all here now Mr. Edgeworth! Tell us what the next contest is!" Kay begs, practically bouncing out of her seat in excitement as Edgeworth lets Maya and I into his house.

I suppose I kind of feel the same way Kay does, though for different reasons. I didn't end up telling Maya I loved her over dinner last night, but after what we said I'm more confident than ever that Maya might just feel the same way I do. I WILL tell her soon, I swear it.

"Calm down, Kay." Edgeworth commands. "Now if you'll all follow me outside, we can begin the second round of the competition."

Gumshoe, Larry, Kay, Maya and I follow Edgeworth to the back of his house, which (as you might expect from somebody who was living so far away from the rest of society) was right in front of a large forest.

"The rules for the next challenge are quite simple. In the forest in front of you, I have placed three flags. You must go in, search for the flags, find them and bring them back to me. The person who comes back empty-handed will be eliminated." Edgeworth explains. "Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah." I say, raising my hand. "Since the last challenge was about testing our driving ability, what does this one have to do with getting your car?"

Edgeworth glares at me. Clearly he hadn't bothered thinking about it. "Well... You see... Er, yes... Naturally, a good driver must be able to examine situations thoroughly so that they may... avoid dangerous situations... and just generally be a safer driver. Capturing these flags would prove that you can pick out even the smallest details when necessary... Honestly Wright, it's so obvious I didn't think I needed to spell it out. No more questions. Go already!" Edgeworth orders, shooing us off into the forest.

...

"Was it me, or did it seem like Edgeworth had no idea what he was talking about?" I ask Maya, laughing.

Maya giggles. "Yeah, he was totally bluffing, even I could see it. You really caught him off guard. Hey, how far do you think we're supposed to go into the forest to find the flags?"

"It can't be that far along. Even when we were kids, Edgeworth kind of hated nature. I mean, can you imagine him trying to walk deep into the forest just to plant some flags? He'd probably get worried about ruffling his suit." I joke.

Maya bursts out laughing. "Curses! I've gotten mud all over these designer shoes that I JUST bought!" She complains, in a rather funny imitation of Edgeworth.

"Do you think he tried driving that new car he has into the forest so he could put the flags in here?" I wonder, tearing up from laughter.

"I don't know, his car did look pretty clean when we got here earlier."

"Well of course it did. He would have cleaned it after, no doubt. Probably even polished it."

"Oh! I bet he used one of those handkerchiefs he wears around his neck to clean off all the dirt!"

"It's not a handkerchief, it's a CRAVAT!" I declare, doing what I consider a pretty good job at copying Edgeworth's tone.

At this point we're practically rolling on the ground in laughter, and we're only stopped when we hear shouting from further on in the forest.

"Wooooop! I got it!" Gumshoe runs past us, yelling triumphantly as he waves a small white flag. "Told you I'd beat you, Kay!"

"What? But how's that possible?" Kay complains. "We just started!"

"I'm a detective! I've been trained to notice everything!" Gumshoe brags. _How convenient that NOW is the first time you've decided to be observant in all of the years we've known you, detective, _I think to myself.

"Well whatever!" Kay shouts as Gumshoe runs off towards the forest exit. "I'm an expert on snatching things! I'm the great Yatagarasu! I'll be the next one to find a flag, just you watch!". With that, Kay turns around and runs further into the forest.

"Nick!" Maya shouts, doing a complete turn in personality from her joking self a minute earlier and becoming totally serious. "We have to stop goofing around and take this seriously now, or else we're going to lose! Come on!"

Maya and I move along farther down along a path (figuring that Edgeworth probably wouldn't travel too far off of it) and scan the area until we come to a rather large tree.

"Wow, Nick! Look at this tree! I just bet Edgeworth would put a flag up here. It's totally awesome!" Maya exclaims, trying to reach for a branch on the gigantic tree which is, despite being the lowest branch on the tree, still quite a few feet above her grasp.

"It's also totally out of reach. Edgeworth and I are about the same height, and I can't climb this so I doubt he would. This bark is way too slippery and the branches are too high to climb up." I deduce.

"Well, he might be able to!" Maya protests. "He's a Steel Samurai fan, after all."

"What? Edgeworth never told us he liked the Steel Samurai! How can you possibly know that? Why would he watch a kid's show?" I question.

"Nick, believe me. When you've watched as many episodes of the Steel Samurai as I have, you can just tell who's a Samurai fan. And Edgeworth is definitely one of them. And it's not JUST for kids, you know! Maybe if you watched it with me more often, you would see that!" Maya whines.

"OK, OK, whatever! What does Edgeworth watching Steel Samurai have to do with anything, anyways?" I ask.

"Well in episode 4 of the show, the Steel Samurai has to climb this 500-foot tree, so he does this Samurai technique that lets him run up trees and walls and stuff! It's so cool! Anyways, if Edgeworth saw it, and I'm sure he did, maybe he used that technique to climb this tree!" Maya suggests.

"Wait, wait. So if Edgeworth can do this move just from seeing it on the Steel Samurai, why can't you?" I decide to humor Maya and momentarily ignore the fact that it would be impossible for Edgeworth to learn a magical technique just from seeing it on a TV show for kids.

"What, in these?" Maya asks, pointing down to her wooden sandals. "I can't run very well on anything with these on, especially not trees. Anyways, it doesn't matter! Just let me sit on your shoulders and I can probably get up this branch-"

"You know, the more questions I ask you, the more ridiculous I'm starting to feel." I sigh.

"Don't worry Nick. I know this must be a bit confusing for you, but I'm sure once you watch a few episodes-" Maya starts to reassure me.

"Whatever! Look," I explain, exasperated, "The flag is white, right? Which means, since we're surrounded in green and brown, it would probably stick out. But if you look up in the tree, you can't see anything even remotely white. Which means the flag probably isn't up there, OK? Now let's just go and leave this stupid tree alone!"

Maya pouts. "Fine. But I swear Nick, if a flag's up there and we lose because we didn't go check, you're going to owe me... a hundred burgers!"

"Fine, Maya." I sigh, willing to bet a thousand burgers that not a single flag was in the tree.

...

As we walk further down the path, we hear a high-pitched shriek.

"Ha ha, yes! I found it!" Kay announced, jumping up and down in joy while holding a flag in her hand. But her momentary happiness was drowned out by a huge sob.

"No, no, no, noooooo!" Larry cried out as he dropped to his knees, his head buried in his hands.

"Larry, are you alright?" Kay asked, quickly becoming concerned.

"Oh, this is a nightmare! How could this happen! Whyyyyyy? She left me! Britney just dumped me! By text message! She's leaving me for her ex-boyfriend, Kevin! Oh, what am I going to do? She was my world! I've got nothing left to live for! I should just die!" Larry sobs.

"Oh no... Larry, cheer up..." Kay urges him, clearly sympathizing with his pain. "Here, have this." And in a decision which surprises all of us, Kay hands Larry her flag.

"S-Seriously?" Larry asks, seemingly shocked.

"Yeah, it's fine. I can find another one easily, and it looks like you need a bit of good luck right now." Kay assures him, smiling.

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Larry shouts, getting off the ground and giving Kay a huge hug.

"Wait, Larry..." I ask him as he lets go of Kay and passes us, "Didn't Britney break up with you back in high school?"

"Shut up, Nick!" he hisses, making a mad dash towards the forest exit. What a cheat.

Kay wheels her head around, notices us, and starts running further along the path. With just the three of us left in the forest, I realize the pressure is on.

"Come on Maya, we've got to go!" I say, chasing after Kay.

"Nick, slow down! I told you I can't run well in these!" Maya complains, stumbling over herself as she tries to keep up.

"Yes! There it is!" Kay shouts from ahead of me. I look up. Hanging in a hole in a tree, about eight feet off the ground, is the last flag.

"Nick, we're not going to get there in time! You've got to stop her!" Maya screams.

Doing the first thing that pops into my head, I stop in my tracks, point at Kay and bellow out "HOLD IT!" at the top of my lungs.

Kay, who is in the middle of climbing up a branch, is so surprised by the shout that she stumbles and falls off.

Although she didn't fall very high, I run over to make sure she's alright.

"Are you OK?" I ask, offering a hand as she tries to get up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Wow, that came out of nowhere-"

But as I check on Kay, Maya, having discarded her sandals on the ground, runs at the tree at full force, jumps up against its trunk, and somehow manages to climb the tree using only her feet. She goes up high, reaches out for the flag heroically, and snatches it out of its hole. Maya climbs back down the tree victoriously.

"What? Huh? How did you do that? You can seriously get up trees that way?" I gasp, flabbergasted.

Kay, however, is totally disappointed. "What? But this means... I lost?"

...

"I have to admit, Wright. I did not think you were going to win this one." Edgeworth chuckles to himself as we hand him the flag. "I really thought Kay would have this in the bag."

"I was robbed!" Kay complains, crossing her arms. "I demand a rematch!"

"Kay, be a good sport." Edgeworth requests. "You know the rules."

"Alright, fine. I guess that since I'm your assistant, you'll have to drive me around places in your fancy new car anyways, right Mr. Edgeworth?" Kay grinned.

Edgeworth is completely taken aback. "W-What? I never agreed to that!"

Maya turns around to face me. "Alright Nick! Looks like we managed to pull it off again! But next time we can't cut it so close."

I laugh. "Agreed."

"So, what do we do next? Maybe we should do some more training," suggests Maya.

"Actually, Maya, I was hoping we could watch some Steel Samurai episodes," I reply. "I wouldn't mind learning how to climb up a tree like you did."

Maya throws up her hands in excitement. "YES! You rock, Nick!"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

**Superjay45: Well when you think about it, almost everybody had an unfair advantage that round. Detective Gumshoe is a detective, so he's been trained to be observant (in theory, at least), Kay's lifestyle is based around her ability to snatch things that don't belong to her, and Phoenix and Maya had an extra person working for them. Really, the only person who didn't have an advantage was Larry, but he ended up cheating anyways.**

**So here it is, the last chapter. Thanks to everyone who's been reading the story, and an extra special thank you to the super nice readers who wrote reviews too! Enjoy!**

"Nick... Nick..."

"Huh? What is it?" I mutter as I lift my head up quickly, disoriented from having just woken up. The first thing I notice upon opening my eyes is the TV, which we must have left on since at the moment its bright screen is blinding me. I feel around for the remote on the ground and, after finding it, turn the TV off.

After that, I notice Maya, lying on my side with her head on my shoulder as we rest on the couch. I figure out that at some point through the fourth season DVD set of the Steel Samurai, we must have fallen asleep.

And only after that do I figure out what was calling out my name. "Nick..." Maya whispers softly.

"Uh, Maya?" I ask, just checking to see if she's awake. No response. She must be dreaming.

_Wait... Maya's dreaming about me?_

"Oh Nick..." Maya mutters, slightly louder this time.

Feeling like I'm intruding on something that I really shouldn't be spectating, I decide that I should probably get off the couch. Unfortunately, as soon as I start to inch away, Maya wakes up.

"...Huh? Nick?"

"Yeah, it's me Maya." I answer in my most reassuring tone. Suddenly Maya's arms, which I hadn't even noticed were wrapped around my waist, tighten.

"Mmm... Don't leave...Stay here for a while." She mutters. "You're so warm... and soft."

"OK." I agree, not entirely sure if Maya's still half-asleep or not. But she seems to be listening to me, since once I consent to staying her grip loosens and her head sinks from my shoulder to up against my chest.

I have to admit, it feels kind of nice. Comforted by each other's embrace, we both fall back asleep.

…

Maya's shifting wakes me up. As my eyes open up in the sunlight-filled room, the first thing I see is Maya's lovely face looking back at me. I could definitely get used to this.

"Morning, Nick." Maya greets me with a lazy smile spread out across her face.

I return it eagerly. "Morning, Maya. Sleep well?"

"Yup!" Maya says, getting up off the couch. "Last night was fun, we should do it again."

I get up and follow her into the kitchen, where she starts toasting some frozen waffles. "The Steel Samurai part, or the sleeping together on the couch part?"

"Both!" Maya replies, searching in the cupboards for syrup.

"Yeah. Yeah, we should." I nod. Before I can further continue the pleasant conversation, the phone rings.

"Wright and Co Law Offices, Phoenix Wright speaking."

"Finally! I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours, Wright!" Edgeworth complains on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry Edgeworth. Maya and I were sleeping in." I explain, exchanging glances with my assistant.

"Very well. The last round of the competition will take place at Gourd Lake at 2 PM. I expect both you and Ms. Fey to be there on time."

"Don't worry, Edgeworth. We'll be there.

…

Gourd Lake

2:00 PM

…

"Firstly I'd like to congratulate you all for making it this far. You all performed reasonably well in the other tasks, and I can seriously say I'm amazed that you've all made it this far." Edgeworth announces, smirking at his thinly veiled insult. "But unfortunately, this is the last round, and only one of you can be the winner."

Edgeworth walks down to the lakefront, pointing down to the far end of the beach. "As you may notice, I have set up a sort of finishing line for you all." Off in the distance, two small white flags were placed parallel to each other on either side of the lakefront, clearly meant to symbolize a finish line of sorts.

"Not very fancy, is it Edgeworth? I would think that if you could afford to give away your car for free, you could at least buy some new flags to use for the finish line instead of re-using the ones from yesterday." I laugh.

"Very funny, Wright. Have you considered being a comedian? I'm sure you'd make more money in that career than the one you've chosen now. Of course, it would be almost impossible not to." Edgeworth retorts.

Before I can open my mouth to give a comeback, Edgeworth interrupts.

"As I was planning to say before I was so rudely interrupted, the final challenge is a race. Race from here to the finish line, and whoever crosses first gets the keys to the car." Edgeworth concludes. "Now on your mark, get set-"

"Hold on, hold on. If we drove go-karts to teach us about the importance of driving ability, and went on a flag hunt to teach us that being observant is important while driving, what is this supposed to teach us? That speeding around places while driving will get us what we want? I'm not a driving expert or anything, but I don't think that's such a good id-"

"JUST GO ALREADY!" Edgeworth shouts. Larry and Gumshoe take off down the track, and Maya hops onto my back.

"What? Maya, this is no time for a piggyback ride!" I exclaim.

"You know I can't run in these sandals!" Maya argues. "Besides, you're strong enough to lift me. Now hurry up!"

Not willing to waste any more time arguing, I take off down the beach. Larry, who has never been very good at running is only a little bit ahead of us despite our slow start, and we're gaining on him fast. Unfortunately, Gumshoe is ages ahead of us, being much faster than I would have expected.

"Nick, we have to speed up! We're gonna lose!" Maya shouts.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" I protest.

In what I assume must be an attempt to motivate me, Maya pulls on my spikes. "OUCH!" I screech, but the pain has the desired effect. My pace picks up, and pretty soon we're passing Larry. But even with the added boost, we're still too far behind Gumshoe to catch up. He's almost at the finish line...

"HOLD IT!"

Gumshoe turns around to look at the source of the noise.

So do I.

"Detective Gumshoe, man! Stop!" Larry calls out, panting.

"What? No way! I need that car!" Gumshoe declares.

"Wait, why do you want it?" I ask. "If you get a car, you're just going to end up paying more money on gas. You probably don't want that, since you're living on instant noodles as it is."

"Well yeah, I know that pal! I'm going to sell the car! And then, I'll get loads of money! I'll be able to buy the real noodles, and not just the instant kind!" Gumshoe explains.

"He's not very ambitious, is he Nick?" Maya mutters.

"What if I offered you something better?" Larry asks.

Gumshoes eyebrows raised. "I'm listening."

"I'm the Steel Samurai, man! (At this point Maya blurts out "WHAT?") I can hook you up with loads of Samurai Dogs! I can... I can give you a life's supply of Samurai Dogs!" Larry promises.

"A... A life's supply?" Gumshoe stutters. By now it's clear that Larry has him hook, line and sinker.

"Just stop Nick from getting to the finish line and let me pass, and they're all yours." Larry grins.

"Deal!" Detective Gumshoe agrees, and before I can register what's going on Gumshoe is acting like a human barricade in front of Maya and I, and Larry is running past us towards the finish line.

"Nick, we have to beat Larry! Tackle Gumshoe out of the way, or something!" Maya orders me.

"I can't! Look at him, he seems so happy about getting Samurai Dogs!" I cry out. Gumshoe has the biggest, stupidest grin I've ever seen on his face.

"WOOOOOT!" Larry shouts from across the beach. I don't even need to look over to tell that he's reached the finish line.

"No!" Maya shouts. Furiously, she hops off my back and storms away from the lake. Edgeworth and Gumshoe walk over to congratulate Larry as I run off and chase after Maya.

…

After searching for her for a while, I finally find her sitting on a bench near the exit to Gourd Lake, crying.

"Maya?" I ask softly.

As soon as she notices me, Maya wipes her face on her sleeve and turns away. "Go away, Nick."

"Look, Maya," I start, sitting down beside her, "I know you really wanted to win the competition, and you wanted the car for burgers or whatever, but honestly we probably wouldn't have used it that much-"

"It's not about the stupid burgers, Nick!" Maya shouts.

"Then what is it about?" I ask. _Also, did you really just call __**burgers **__stupid?_

Maya lets out a big sigh. "Look... I'm going to have to be Master of Kurain soon, and I'm worried that I'll have to, you know, go back to the village. And I know that even if I do, you'll try to come visit me whenever you can, because you're a really great friend, but it takes at least two hours to get there by train, which is a lot, so I thought that maybe if you had a car, you could come visit me more often, since it probably wouldn't take as long. And now that we lost, I'm worried I won't get to see you as much since the village is so far away, and I... I don't want us to be far away!" Maya chokes up. "I-I want to stay with you!"

Maya begins to sob into my shirt. I put an arm around her and give her shoulder a squeeze. "Maya, it doesn't matter to me how far away Kurain is. It could be days away, and I'd still come visit. It doesn't matter how far I have to travel, as long as I get to see you."

"S-Seriously?" Maya asks.

"Absolutely." I tell her, wiping the tears off her face.

There's a small pause when neither of us say anything.. Then we both speak at the same time.

"I love you."

"I love you."

"You do?" I exclaim, amazed at how things are turning out.

Maya nods, laughing. "Of course! Nick, I don't care if you lost us the race today. In my heart, you'll always be in first place."

Sure that there's nothing else left to be said, I kiss her, not stopping until I'm sure her worries have slipped away.

Who needs a car, anyways?


End file.
